


Family Dynamics

by Sparrowsverse



Series: Bloodlines [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jossverse, Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternative Universe - Vampires, Crossover, Gen, Magnificent Seven ATF, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-15
Updated: 2012-01-15
Packaged: 2017-10-29 14:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/320748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparrowsverse/pseuds/Sparrowsverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris Larabee wakes up to the world of the supernatural. Rituals, confusion and a son! WHAT?!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to thank strangevisitor7 for the awesome betaing! Also, this story is inspired by [On a Strangers Front Porch](http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-10647/IndraLeigh+On+a+Strangers+Front+Porch.htm) by [IndraLeigh](http://www.tthfanfic.org/AuthorStories-3709/IndraLeigh.htm).

Awareness slowly returned to him as he registered that he was lying on the floor of a damp, badly lit cave.

A sound not unlike a dying yak permeated the area and he slowly sat up, hands cradling his head.

Looking around, Chris Larabee took in his surroundings.

Damp cave, high ceiling – so not a good idea to try and climb his way out. A single beam of light shone in from a hole high above the ground.

“There’s not a lot of escape options. My fault really, so sorry about that.”

Chris spun around. “Who said that?”

“Me!”

“Who’s me?”

“Over here, blondie.”

Chris slowly looked around, hands raised as he took a few steps backwards.

“There ya go, fire hot now!”

Spinning around, Chris’s eyes went huge and his hands dropped limply to his side. “What the hell are you?”

The voice that had been echoing through the cave belonged to a face embedded in the rock wall. “Oh, plain old human. I just pissed our captors off by trying to escape several times. They didn’t like that, so they stuck me in here.”

Chris could make out a couple of fingers poking through the rock, moving around wildly to gesture.

Moving closer, Chris touched the face and realized it was warm. Dark brown bangs hung limply over the person’s forehead and one brown eye glinted with annoyance and warmth. The rest of the figure was lost inside the rock face.

 _Wait, one eye._

Chris looked again at the face and saw that the other eye was covered in an eyepatch.

“Our captors?”

“Yep! Congratulations, you have been kidnapped by demons who want to use you to bring about the end of the world,” the figure in the wall said in a sarcastic announcer’s voice. “On par for the week, actually,” he finished in a normal tone

Chris blinked hard. “Demons? End of the world?”

“Yep, yep! But don’t worry, I have a cunning plan,” the male grinned.

“Great, the fate of the world is being decided by a kid trapped in a wall of rock and he has a cunning plan!” Chris sarcastically bit out. "Who the hell are you anyways?"

“Name's Xander and hey! I happen to be twenty-seven here; so, not a kid!” Xander countered.

Chris slumped down to the ground and leaned against the rock wall Xander was trapped in.

Xander really couldn’t move his head to see anything, but he was pretty sure the thumping noise was the guy banging his head against the rock.

“So, what’s your name?”

THUMP! THUMP!!

“Great! I’ll call you Larry! I knew a Larry in high school, but he turned out to be gay and then got killed,” Xander prattled on. “You don’t look like a gay Larry, but you can’t be too sure these days.”

“My. Name. Is. Not. Larry. And. I. Am. Not. Gay,” Chris ground out.

“So what is your name?”

“Chris Larabee.”

“Ah, coolness!” Xander grinned. “Nice to meet ya, Chris. I’d shake your hand, but I’m a little trapped at the moment.”

Chris just grunted.

“Sorry if I babble a bit here, I’ve only really had the demons for conversation the past month or so and they’re not so great on human speech. It’s more ‘human’, ‘dead’, ‘ritual’; grunting caveman kinda talking,” Xander explained. “But I think I’m getting better at understanding what they want.”

Chris merely sighed. “You really believe demons are real?”

“Yep! This world is older than any of you know, and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, demons walked the Earth, made it their home, their Hell,” Xander’s voice had taken on an English accent. “So, these three old men took a girl from her tribe, infused her with demon essence and so came about the first Slayer. She beat the demons back, but the demons were tenacious and bit a human, mixed their blood with that human and thus the first vampire was born.”

“Why are you speaking in an English accent?” Chris asked.

“It sounds cooler that way,” Xander said, American accent back in place.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Chris tried to ward off the impending headache.

“You know, you’re taking this pretty well,” Xander commented.

Chris merely rolled his eyes, well aware Xander couldn’t see him. “And the end of the world buisness?”

“Oh that, not too clear about that, but I think it has something to do with our blood,” Xander stated and then whispered to himself. “It’s always about blood.”

Silence permeated the cave as Chris tried to come to terms with what he had been told. If not for the unusual surroundings and Xander's placement inside the wall, he'd find it hard to believe anything. Still Chris wondered if this wasn't some bad alcohol induced nightmare.

“I hear the doubting doubts of a doubter,” Xander sing-songed.

“You read minds now?” Chris snorted.

“Nah. Just been in your position before,” Xander sighed.

“And what position is that?”

“The position of being a doubter and asking if this is real.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“A girl and watching my best friend turn to dust on my stake. Kinda chased away my doubts,” Xander said quietly.

“I can’t believe I’m asking this, but vampires got your friend?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, captured him and turned him as bait for the girl,” Xander sighed.

“Sorry,” Chris grunted out.

“It happened a long time ago,” Xander said. “First soldier down in my fight.”

Their conversation was interrupted when part of the cave slide open.

Chris stood up as figures entered wearing trench coats, hoods pulled up over their heads.

Glaring at the trio of figures, Chris settled into a stance, legs spread apart and his fists raised chest level. “What do you want?”

One snarled something incomprehensible as the one of the left sprinted forward and grabbed a hold of Chris.

Chris bucked in the full body grip, and out of the corner of his eye, he could make out a clawed hand. “I’ll repeat myself again! WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

The one on the right had moved to stand infront of Xander. Reaching out with a long claw, the figure slashed the young man’s cheek, drawing blood.

“HEY!!” Xander tried to jerk his head away but was unable to because of the rock encircling his head. “No getting slash-happy with my face!!”

The one who held Chris also used its claw to shred through the long sleeved shirt and draw a cut on his arm, coating the long nail in his blood. Tossing Chris into the dirt, the creature returned to join the others.

The nails, dripping with blood, were offered up to the leader who licked the liquid and smiled.

Chris could make out a row of sharp teeth and shuddered. He definitely wasn’t in a world he knew anymore.

The trio snarled with one another and gestured at Xander and Chris.

Xander’s eye went wide with what he heard.

“RIIitttualllll,” The leader hissed out. “TWooooOO niiiightsssss.”

With that said, the trio walked out of the cave and the wall sliding closed behind them, effectively sealing Xander and Chris inside once more.

Snarling quietly to himself, Chris hauled himself up and pressed his hand to his wound.

“You should bandage that.”

Chris winced slightly at the flat tone and then sarcasam won out. “You think?”

Xander’s head dipped down a bit and Chris could make out the scratches on the younger man’s cheek. Blood dripping down freely and hitting the ground.

Sighing, Chris tore the bottom of his shirt, wrapped his arm up and then walked over to Xander. Using the leftover material from his makeshift bandage, Chris gently pressed against the three cuts.

The shaggy head lifted up in slight surprise.

“You can’t do it yourself,” Came a simply reply.

“Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. I could’ve gone this entire kidnapping without that tidbit of knowledge,” Xander bit out.

“What did they say?” Chris demanded.

“Nothing.”

“Yeah, sure, that’s why yer shutting down here.”

Xander sighed as Chris continued to keep pressure on the wound.

“Talk to me Xander, all I heard was grunts and growls,” Chris said. “Yer the one with the translation.”

“They said our blood tastes the same. That we’re the correct ones for the ritual,” Xander quietly stated.

“’Our blood tastes the same’,” Chris repeated. “What did they mean by that? You sure you heard right?”

“Trust me, I’m sure,” Xander stated quietly.

Chris took the bloody cloth away and inspected the wound. Dabbing at it a couple more times, Chris tossed the cloth to the ground. He turned his attentions back to the younger man trapped in the wall. “You know what it means.”

“I have an idea of what it means.”

“So share.”

Xander sighed. “We’re related somehow, that’s the only explanation I can come up with.”

“And you got all of that from a few grunts and growls?” Chris asked incredulously.

“Yeah. They wouldn’t lie about something like this. Their ritual is too important,” Xander said.

Chris looked into the one brown eye and it looked so familiar to him. “Related somehow, huh?”

“Yeah, no idea how. Mom and Dad bit it in Sunnydale, never made it out when the quake hit,” Xander spat out bitterly. “Guess they were passed out drunk.”

“Sorry about your parents,” Chris winced.

“Yeah, well, other than my mom and Uncle Rory, they weren’t worth much,” Xander complained.

Chris filed away the town name from earlier as it sounded familiar to him. “Not sure how we’re related. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles.”

“Huh, don’t know what to think then,” Xander said casually.

Chris merely grunted and then a thought struck him. He certainly was the right age. “What was your mom’s name? Her maiden name.”

“Jessica LaValle. Why?”

Chris’s green eyes went huge at the name and he spun around angrily. Fists were clenched and unclenched as a storm of emotions raged within his body.

Xander could make out the tension in the older man’s body. “How’d you know my mom?”

Chris closed his eyes and silently cursed Jessica.

“Hey!! I’m talking to you Larabee!” Xander snarled out as he strained against his rock prison. “How’d you know my mom?”

Running a hand through his hair, Chris turned around to face the younger man and found himself facing Xander’s own narrowed suspicious eyes. “I knew your mom in high school.”

“Continue.”

“We were inseparable those four years and for a short time afterwards. At eighteen I decided I wanted to join the Navy. Jessica didn’t like that idea,” Chris sighed. “I argued with her about it for about a year before she gave me an ultimatum. I chose the navy and she left me. Never saw or heard from her again.”

“So what, you saying it’s all ‘Luke, I’m your father?’” Xander scoffed.

Chris slightly frowned at the pop culture reference, but understood what Xander was trying to say. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Be kidnapped, become part of a ritual to end the world and end up with it’s a boy,” Xander sarcastically spat out. “Gee, if I knew it was going to turn out like this, I would’ve stayed home in bed.”

“You saying, you don’t believe me?”

“No, I believe you. Drunken father ramblings now make sense. Slight case of the wiggins, but it matches the rest of my chaotic life. The luck of the Zeppo strikes again,” Xander sighed.

“This happens to you a lot?” Chris asked.

“Pretty much, although, the father bit is new.”

Chris stood in front of his son and just stared at his face. Fingers came up and traced the younger man’s skin.

“What are you doing?” Xander asked as he flinched slightly away.

Chris dropped his hand. “Sorry, I just – just never thought I’d have a son again.”

“Again?”

“I had a son once, Adam. Your younger brother,” Chris said. “But he was killed along with my wife, Sarah.”

“I’m sorry.”

Chris merely grunted and then indicated Xander’s eyepatch with his head, wanting to change the topic quickly. “The eyepatch necessary?”

Xander nodded. “Yeah, lost the eye a couple of years back. Don’t really want to talk about it.”

Over the course of the next two days Chris and Xander talked about everything and nothing. Their connection was too new to get into anything too deeply.

Chris was starting to get ansty as the time for the ritual approached. He was pacing the length of the cave and randomly growling.

“You know your face is going to freeze like that one day, right?” Xander grinned.

Chris glared at him. “How can you be calm right now?! You said you had a plan, now would be a great time to share!”

Anything Xander might’ve said was interrupted as the hidden door in the cave wall shifted open.

Once again a trio of demons entered. The one on the left gestured with his clawed hand.

Chris heard a groan and saw the rock shift away from Xander. Lunging forward, he caught his son as he started to fall forward.

“Ow,” Xander grunted out. “I don’t recommend the prolonged stay in rock, muscle cramps.”

“Shouldn’t you look worse or covered in ...” Chris gestured over Xander’s body.

“Magic,” Xander grunted out as he tried to stretch his body out. “Does the body good or not so good in this case.”

They were grabbed from behind and dragged out of the cave.

Chris was fought the hold and grunted as the trio of demons hauled him away from his son. Xander was huddled into a ball and clutching something at his neck as they tossed him over their shoulder.

“Ow, again,” Xander grunted out.

“YOU LET MY SON GO!!” Chris howled out.

The demons responded by shaking Chris until he was dizzy and nearly threw up.

They were taken through a maze of tunnels and Chris could feel the incline as they headed upwards. They were finally tossed outside, on top of a mountain.

The moon was full and its light shone on a slab of stone covered in intricate runes. Two sets of manacles were attached by pegs in the ground.

Xander was chained down first and he yelped as his body was stretched out for the first time in a long time.

Chris still dizzy from the shaking was next, but he still struggled against his captures, legs kicking out, hoping to connect with one of the demons.

“Xander.”

“Yeah?”

“That cunning plan you mentioned, now would be a good time to execute it.”

Xander smirked in the darkness as his muscles protested. “All ready done.”

The trio of demons ignored the human’s jabbering and set up in a triangle around Chris and Xander.

They started to chant.

Chris felt his eyes start to droop as the chanting progressed. A wave of lethargy pierced his body but he managed to move his head enough to see Xander being affected as well.

As his eyelids closed, he heard a faint popping noise and high pitched yells.

~~~

“…think…waking…”

“…same…as Xander…”

Chris heard the words, but could barely open his eyes, he still felt so tired He knew he needed to move, but he fell into the darkness once more.

He had no concept of time as dreams tumbled past his consciousness. Xander being torn apart by the demons, his team being torn apart by demons and even Sarah and Adam being torn apart by the demons.

“…starting…wake up…”

“Wakey-wakey, Agent Larabee.”

Chris twitched his nose, something was rubbing it.

“Daaaad, time to wake-up now.”

Xander!! Xander was rubbing his nose. He had to wake-up for his son!!

“I do believe he’s waking up now, Xander.”

Chris made out the British voice and slowly opened his eyes to see Xander leaning over him.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“We’re still alive?” Chris asked confused.

“Yep, told you I had a cunning plan,” Xander grinned.

Chris’s faced looked confused enough that Xander grinned again and held out a silver necklace with a small pentacle at the end.

“Wore this little baby while I was a guest,” Xander explained. “Acts as a magical homing becon. Activated it when I got tossed out of the rock face, but it wouldn’t start sending out a signal until we were outside. Too much magical interference in that cave.”

Chris nodded, indicating he understood and then a pensive look crossed his face. “How long?”

“How long what?” Xander asked.

“How long have I been unconscious?” Chris asked groggily.

“Four days. I was out for two,” Xander said.

“Where are we?”

“England.”

“Oh, England,” Chris nodded in compliance. “ENGLAND?”

Xander had to jerk back to avoid colliding with Chris as he surged upwards.

“How the hell are we in England? And where, in England?”

“Well, that’s where the ritual was being held and where I was trapped in the rock,” Xander knowingly said. “And as to where parental unit, Sussex, England in the merry old building known as the IWC aka International Watcher’s Council. Infirmary.”

“What exactly is the IWC?” Chris asked.

“A little bit of this and that,” Xander evaded.

Chris narrowed his eyes and eyed Xander, promising this wasn’t over, but then his eyes went wide at the previous statement before he exploded. “I’m supposed to be in Denver!! How the hell did that happen?”

“You’ve actually been missing for two weeks, Agent Larabee.”

Chris twisted his head to see an older man, hair peppered with some slight grey and in a tweed suit on the other side of his bed. “Two weeks?”

“I was ‘kidnapped’ for three,” Xander grinned as he air quoted kidnapped.

“How the hell did I miss two weeks?” Chris growled out.

“The demons who kidnapped you, kept you in some sort of stasis,” the older man said as he cleaned his glasses. “And over the course of two weeks they magically probed your body and to make it healthy for their ritual. They would have no use for a sick sacrifice.”

Chris saw the newspaper clipping that the older man held, headline proudly declaring his missing status and how the search was still ongoing.

Xander winced. “Giles, please don’t use ‘probed’ in the same sentence as my Dad.”

“Ah, of course,” Giles apologised.

“Magically searched?” Chris questioned with a glare.

“Nothing harmful was done to you, Agent Larabee,” Giles quickly reassured. “It’s probably best that you don’t remember.”

“And that chanting they did?” Chris asked. “I think I’m still feeling the effects.”

“Ah yes, the chanting,” Giles said. “Quite fascinating really, I didn’t realize that the Q’uitaks could utilize that particular chant that way.”

“G-man!” Xander yelped out. “I think he wants to know what it did to us.”

Chris merely glared.

“Ah, quite right.” Giles cleaned his glasses again. “It did nothing to you, except as a side effect it gave you the magical equivalent of mono. Should clear up within a week or so.”

“Magical mono?”

Giles nodded.

Chris flopped back, head hitting his pillow. “Has anyone contacted my team?”

“I spoke to a Judge Travis and apprised him of the situation,” Giles informed Chris.

“What exactly did you tell him?” Chris asked guarded.

“You were exposed to a biological pathogen from a cult, specializing in bloodlines. They spirited you away to England to sacrifice you in a ritual, which included one of our people. You were also kept in a drug induced coma for the better part of two weeks,” Giles explained.

“We call those explanations ‘The Sunnydale Syndrome’,” Xander grinned and yawned at the same time.

Chris felt himself returning the yawn.

“Sleep, Agent Larabee. When you feel up to it, we’ll get a phone in here for you to call your team personally,” Giles smiled.

Chris found himself nodding as his eyes drifted closed. He saw his son get into the bed across the room from him and they both fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The first couple of days of that long week, Chris found himself sleeping – a lot. He was reassured constantly that it was normal and in no time at all he’d be up and about.

He used this time to get to know Xander.

When Xander was asleep the boy’s best friend, a red-headed young woman called Willow would sneak in to read comics to his son. If he was awake, they would chit-chat and he got hear stories from when Xander was younger.

He couldn’t decide if he felt sad that he'd missed Xander’s childhood or pissed that his son grew up without him. He settled for a mixture of the two.

Chris grunted from his position in the bed. He was sick and tired of being mostly tired. He could barely stay awake for an hour. Magical mono his ass.

“I hear a grumpy guss!” Willow sing-songed as she moved from her place at Xander's side to check on Chris.

“I ain’t grumpy.” Chris glowered.

“Sure and that look on your face is going to woo the ladies sometime today,” Willow grinned.

“I ain’t trying to ‘woo the ladies’,” Chris said as he tried to find a more comfortable position. It wasn’t working.

“The men folk then?” Willow asked.

“NO!!!” Chris shouted. “Why would you even ask that?”

“Well, it’s an honest question,” Willow pointed out as she sat down in the chair next to Chris’s bed.

Chris hmfphed and settled for glaring at her.

Willow returned the stare and smiled nervously. “You’re in a fine mood today.”

“Well, when you can barely stay awake for more than hour, then we’ll see how you’re doing too,” Chris growled at her.

Chris kept up the glare as Willow started to tease him. “So, Mr. Grumpy, what kind of stories did you want to know about Xander today?”

Chris was frustrated, but in the face of Willow's cheery demeanour, he was having trouble maintaining his foul mood.

“Tell me about these ‘Scoobies’ you keep mentioning,” Chris ordered. “I want to know about them.”

And learned about them he did. Alive and dead.

He drifted off to the soft tone of Willow’s voice, relating something about someone called ‘Queen C’.

Once when he awoke, he was surprised to see four people crowded around Xander’s bed as he slept.

As one they had turned from the sleeping figure of his son and eyed him. He swore their eyes had glowed green for a split second, before sleep over took him again.

By the fourth day of enforced bed rest, Willow had pulled out what she called the ‘Resolve Face’ when he tried to get out of bed. When faced with her determination, Chris resigned himself to staying in bed. Xander laughed at him admitting he couldn’t say ‘no’ to the Resolve face either.

It was on the fifth day of his bed rest that he stayed awake long enough to demand a cell to call his team.

He dialled a series of numbers on the cell phone provided to him. Xander claimed it was ‘magicked up the wazoo’, courtesy of Willow and would get reception and dial anywhere he wanted. His son said he wanted his dad to have a cell that would work anywhere, so the phone was a gift and to refuse it would result in being pouted at, by Willow.

Well, he couldn’t say no to that.

While pondering all of this, he listened as his new cell phone rang several times. Just as he was about to hang up…

“Agent Wilmington.”

Chris paused for breath before answering. “Hey, big dog.”

There was silence on the other end before a joyous cry rang out. “CHRIS!!!”

Chris chuckled slightly as he heard the others rush over and Buck defending his ownership of the phone "Back! Back! I get to yell at him first."

“Is this a bad time to call?” Chris drawled, amused by the antics of his team.

“NO!! No!” Buck cried out. “Just - aw hell Chris.”

Chris could hear some sniffling and realized that Buck was truly upset. He didn’t mean to disappear on them. He didn’t ask to get kidnapped by demons. “I’m okay, Buck. I’m okay.”

“You disappear on us for two weeks and you’re only okay?!” Buck shouted into the phone.

Chris winced when he heard some scuffling and Nathan’s voice came on the phone. “What do you mean you’re okay? That’s nearly as bad as fine! What’s wrong?”

“Put everyone on speaker, Nathan, only want to explain this once,” Chris ordered.

There was a click of a button and Chris could make out the others voicing their own opinions.

“SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP LADIES!! ONLY GONNA EXPLAIN THIS ONCE!!” Chris yelled into the cell phone.

Immediately the chatter on the other end quieted down and he could hear chairs scrapping.

“So here's what happened," Chris began. "I was stuck in a medical coma. My kidnappers put me in one. During that time, I was exposed to some kind of biological pathogen, along with another fellow. We’re being kept in quarantine until the effect of this weird mono-like flu wears off,” Chris explained.

“And that is the only reason why you’re stuck in quarantine? It’s not deadly, is it?” Nathan asked.

“Yes it’s the only reason I’m stuck here in quarantine and no, it’s not deadly, just annoying. I should be home in another week and a half,” Chris stated.

“Where are you exactly, Brother Chris?” Josiah asked.

Here, Chris winced. There was going to be a major explosion. “England.”

“England!” Team Seven exploded.

“How the fuck did you end up in England?” Vin demanded.

“I was in a coma for two weeks!! How the hell should I know?” Chris shot back. “I only got told where I was when I woke up in another facility.”

“Wait, wait, another facility?” JD interrupted.

“The other fella that was kidnapped, has connections over here,” Chris said. “They were the ones who launched the rescue for their employee.”

“And got you as a bonus, eh big dog?” Buck chuckled.

“Something like that,” Chris chuckled back.

"Any idea why the two of you were kidnapped together like that?” Josiah wondered.

Chris sighed and dropped the bomb. “The kidnappers were actually a cult that followed bloodlines. Real whack jobs, who also had people that were into science. and spreading biological pathogens. They kidnapped me, because the people most compatible for their _ritual_ \- were my son and myself.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone and Chris just briefly wondered if he finally broke his team.

“Chris, Adam’s dead,” Buck mangled out.

“I have another son, Buck,” Chris explained. “Remember Jessica. Well, she had a kid and never told me about it.”

“So, this is Adam’s big brother?” Buck asked.

“Yep.”

“What is the younger Larabee’s name?” Ezra asked.

“He goes by the name Xander Harris,” Chris said.

The chatter started to increase. Chris could hear Buck telling JD to go find out who ‘Xander Harris’ is and Nathan trying to get Chris to tell him more of his condition. He found himself yawning and blinking a couple of times.

“Fellas, I’m gonna have to let you go here,” Chris half-yelled. “Side-effect is starting to come through here. Probably gonna fall asleep within a few minutes.”

“You’ll call us again?” Vin asked.

“Couldn’t keep me away,” Chris mumbled. “Talk to y’all later.”

With a click of a button, he ended the call. Dropping the phone to his side, Chris barely felt the hand that gently untangled the cell from his fingers, as he drifted off to sleep.

~~~

He woke up several hours later to see that Xander was wide awake and talking to Giles, who was sipping, what Chris guessed was tea.

“Fellas,” Chris said by way of greeting.

“Hey parental unit of mine!” Xander grinned. “Pull up a comfy chair and we’ll chat. This is the only place the men folk can gather and not be hounded by the women.”

Chris chuckled as he moved to take the indicated seat by Xander's bed. “And why the Infirmary?”

“Because according to Buffy, ‘Men are big babies and won’t even go to the hospital if their limb is threatening to fall off from an infection from a Kaxeask demon.’” Xander grinned as Giles nearly choked on his tea.

“Good lord, Xander,” Giles sputtered. “You didn’t do that impression while she was around did you?”

“Hell no! I like myself in a non-pulp Xander way,” Xander shuddered.

Chris chuckled at Xander’s choice of words and then looked at Giles as he pulled up a chair. “Do you have a dictionary to understand half of those words?”

“Sadly, the California dialect has no translation,” Giles sighed. “It is a language onto its own.”

“But Giles can understand it just fine, due to the number of years he’s been around said ‘California dialect’,” Xander deadpanned.

“Quite.” Giles smiled around the edges of his teacup.

“Are there any other men folk around?” Chris lightly joked as he moved slightly around in the cushy chair.

“Well, there’s Robin, who’s currently in Cleveland, Andrew is in Rome with Buffy, those two are coming here next week with Dawn,” Xander hummed and hawed. “Spike and Oz are on patrol with the mini-slays and the other two are lurking about the grounds with the rest of the pack.”

“Pack?” Chris asked.

“Um, well, Dad, Chris, something you gotta know,” Xander fidgeted.

“Xander, whatever you tell me, you are my son and the rest don’t matter,” Chris said gruffly.

Giles gave an approving nod and Xander blinked away the sudden onset of tears in his good eye.

“Good to know,” Xander choked out. “But it still needs to be said.”

“All right, what do you need to say?”

“Well, to make a very long story short, I kinda, maybe, accidentally killed the Oba of a werehyena pack The remaining members declared me their new Oba,” Xander babbled out nervously.

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose. “And why would they declare you their leader, if you ain’t a werehyena.”

“Um, well, I kinda got possessed by this primal hyena spirit back in high school and it was supposed to have been exorcised out, but it stuck around,” Xander nervously said. “Only, I didn’t know until some voodoo shaman guy in Africa shook his funky magical staff at me, because I saved his daughter from a pride of lions, and poof! The hyena spirit was back in my head.”

“Large and in charge,” Giles muttered.

“Giles?” Xander asked, shocked.

“Hmm? Continue on with your story, Xander,” Giles motioned with his cup.

Xander eyed Giles and then looked back at Chris. “I kinda maybe went a little feral and somehow I ended up in LA. My hyena spirit, didn’t like being asleep that long. I still no idea how I ended up in LA,” Xander pondered. “I woke up with four other people in a bed and they told me what happened.”

Chris’s eyes were a little large and his mouth opened and closed a few times.

“And the only reason I believed them, was because I had blood on my hands and I knew, just knew, it wasn’t their’s,” Xander sighed. “Plus, my hyena was saying they were part of the pack and blah, blah, blah.”

“Xander,” Giles chided.

“I’m still human!” Xander blurted out. “But with some extra features.”

“What kind of extra features?” Chris asked.

“Well, I can’t shift, but senses are increased,” Xander explained. “And my speed and strength are a bit higher than a normal human’s perspective. Of course, when I get really angry, my eye glows and I get this level up. Downside is, when I’m done, I crash and am out for the count for a few hours.”

“Does this hyena spirit, see me as pack?” Chris asked, wondering if there was anything about his son that would be considered normal.

Xander closed his eye and inhaled deeply. Opening, his brown eye flared green for a second and one word pass from his lips. “Pack.”

Both Giles and Chris exhaled at the same time, unaware theyd been holding their breath.

Chris watched as Xander shook his head a couple of times as the green cleared out of his eye and then he smiled.

“So, when do we get released from here?” Chris asked. So much had happened over the past week, he needed some time to absorb this new revelation from Xander and it was time to change the topic.

“Sometime tomorrow,” Giles promised.

“Whoo and might I add hoo!” Xander cheered. “Am really sick and tired of these walls.”

“Here, here,” Chris agreed.

“We’ll set you up in a spare room,” Giles started.

“Giles, he’ll stay with me,” Xander said.

“Xander! We have plenty of spare rooms,” Giles continued on.

Xander growled and his eye flashed green. “Blood Pack stays with blood pack.”

Chris tensed at that statement as Giles eyed Xander and then nodded.

“Very well,” Giles set the tea cup aside and cleaned his glasses. “But you get to explain to your pack who he is and why he’s staying in your room.”

Xander’s eye went brown and he wilted a little. “Oh yeah…Carola and Tyrone like to climb into my bed to snuggle.”

“Snuggle?” Chris’s eyebrow rose.

“Well, were hyenas are a tactile bunch, so you’ll see a lot of touching between them and me, but it’s mostly for reassurance. Carola was about four when she was bitten and is ten now. She likes to snuggle. Tyrone is her very protective seventeen year old brother and he goes, where she goes,” Xander shrugged. “And Carola likes to snuggle with me, ‘cause she finds me safe, so Tyrone usually ends up in the bed too.”

“You lead a very interesting life,” Chris stated.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Xander chuckled. “They might pull you into the bed as well; pack craziness running through their heads and what not.”

Chris nodded that he understood when in truth he wasn't sure he did. In his tired mental state it was a little too much to absorb right now

“To the were hyena pack, everyone here is my pack,” Xander explained. “But you, you’re blood pack. So they might sniff, lick and touch you a bit more.”

“Because we’re related?” Chris asked incredulously.

“Yes.”

“Wonderful,” Chris grunted out.

“When confronted with a new person, they tend to act like hyena’s in human bodies, but they snap back to pretty quickly.” Xander looked apologetic. “I’ll try and ask them to tone it down, but that’s the best I can do.”

Sighing, Chris listened as Giles and Xander chatted on about various topics that flew right over his head.

Sometimes interrupting to ask the occasional question about who was who, but was mostly content to listen and watch his son.

He learned from just sitting and listening.

His son had been in charge of the Africa division for the better part of two years, before transferring back to England. Xander was due to take over the North America branch from a Robin Wood, but volunteered for the kidnapping first.

Who volunteers for a kidnapping? But Chris couldn’t complain too much, other than the missing two weeks, the kidnapping brought him to his son.

His son.

He would never get tired of those two words.


	3. Chapter 3

It was sometime the next afternoon that Chris and Xander were allowed out of the infirmary with strict orders of not to overdo it.

Chris chuckled as he watched Xander shout a cry of, “FREEDOM!! SWEET, SWEET FREEDOM!!”

Exasperated shouts of “Xander!” and “Good Lord, must you really?” followed from Willow and Giles respectively.

Under the watchful eye of the two, Chris and Xander were herded upstairs to his son’s bedroom; where they were told food would be sent up soon.

Entering the room, Chris saw a king size bed with matching furniture, a flat screen TV bolted into the wall. There were several bookshelves around the room and a small couch with a table in front of it off to the side. It looked like a hotel suite room.

An hour later, both had showered and after feasted on steak and potatoes.

“Oh, that was good grub,” Xander sighed contentedly.

Setting his cutlery down on the plate, Chris cracked his neck. His eyes widened slightly to see Xander do the exact same thing.

Grinning sheepishly, Xander grabbed the napkin off his lap and set it on the plate.

“Now what?” Chris asked after a moment of silence.

Xander shrugged. “Up to you.”

Chris scratched at a spot behind his ear. “I want to know what’s going on. The hyena’s and those demons.”

“Well…” Xander started, but Chris interrupted before he could explain.

“And in that damn cave you mentioned something about Slayers! What are those?” Chris asked. “And vampires!! Vampires!!”

Xander sighed. “Yes, Dad. Vampires.”

Standing up, Chris started to pace the bedroom, before sinking wearily back onto the small couch. “Just trying to wrap my head around all of this.”

“Right on time, then.” Xander sat next to Chris.

“You were timing me to see when I'd start questioning this?” Chris scoffed.

“Something like that. You haven’t really had any time to absorb and take in what I’ve told you,” Xander said. “You’ve been tossed all over the place, forced bed rest from some wonky, magical mono and we’ve only really started to talk. Make sense your brain is finally re-engaging.”

Chris nodded. “We’ve only really been awake together for about, what, three or four days? Not long enough to get to know someone.”

“At the most,” Xander agreed. “But I couldn’t tell you a lot before, because honestly, I didn’t have permission to share secrets that weren’t mine.”

Something then occurred to Chris. “Is that what that Hyena information was about? You trying to freak me out more and push me away?”

“Something like that,” Xander admitted. “Stuff was hitting me to and I thought, ‘hey, let’s throw wacky stuff at him and see if he runs’ kinda thing.”

“Well as you can see, I haven’t gone anywhere,” Chris assured him.

“Yeah, I guess not.” Xander smiled.

There was a few minutes of silence, each trying to absorb the situation.

“So, what can you tell me?” Chris finally asked.

“Well father-mine, it’s a long and sordid tale,” Xander began.

“I seem to have lots of time.” Chris leaned further back into the small sofa.

“Right, right,” Xander sighed as he sank onto the bed. “Well, this story begins with the new girl in school and the boy who fell for her. He fell for her fast and hard.”

Chris watched as Xander absently rubbed his ribs.

“What the boy didn’t know is, that the girl had a secret and because of that secret, the rest of his life would be dedicated to an epic battle of good versus evil,” Xander explained. “Within one week, he lost his best guy friend to vampires who had turned said friend in an effort to lure the girl out. This girl, as it turns out was gifted with supernatural powers and called The Slayer. It was also the first time I killed.”

“WHAT!” Chris exclaimed.

“Jesse, my friend. He'd been turned into a vampire and he wanted to turn me so we’d have eternal life together,” Xander said sadly. “But I didn't want that life. I had my stake raised, a girl running for her life bumped into Jesse and into my stake. I killed my best friend.”

Chris watched as his son pulled himself together and continued.

“Finally get to high school to lose a friend and gain another one,” Xander sighed. “It was also when Willow and I learned about things that went bump in the night that we found out the town was built on top of a mystical convergence.”

“Mystical convergence?” Chris asked.

“The Boca Del Inferno, Mouth of Hell and let me tell you, surviving high school was pretty much that, hell.”

Chris sat and listened as Xander went into year’s worth of back story and personal history.

The Hyena Spirit that left something in Xander was explained. His son’s perchance for being a ‘demon magnet’; the sordid history of being a Scooby, how all of them had sins on their very beings, and then the activation of the potentials into Slayers conclusing with his participation in ‘The Final Battle of Sunnydale’.

Chris couldn't even imagine the level of survival that his son had endured night after night, and Chris had been a Navy Seal.

Surging forward and in a rare bout of emotion, he grabbed Xander and pulled him close.

Stiffening slightly, Xander then relaxed into the embrace.

“What you just told me,” Chris breathed. “It’s not going to send me packing. I’ve missed so many years and I’m not going to miss anymore, even if I have to deal with all of this.”

Xander could only nod and the two let go of one another.

Chris shifted so that they were sitting shoulder to shoulder.

Xander gently nudged Chris’s shoulder with his own. “Are we all right?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’re all right,” Chris replied as he bumped Xander back.

They sat in silence for long moments before Xander shook his head cursing, “We were supposed to be resting here,” Xander winced. “And I kept us up all night.”

“No worries, they probably know we’re talking,” Chris reasoned.

“Yeah, Willow will want juicy details later on,” Xander laughed lightly.

“She’s a good friend isn't she?” Chris smiled.

“The very best.”

~~~

It took them a couple of days, but they finally got on a regular sleep schedule.   
On the morning of the third day, Chris awoke to some murmuring from Xander’s bed. Glancing over, he could make out a small curly dark-brown haired girl in pink pyjama’s sitting on the edge of the bed.

Sensing his scrutiny both Xander and the girl turned their heads and looked at Chris.

“Hey, Dad,” Xander smiled at him. “I see you’re finally up.”

“Yeah, who’s this little one?”

Xander propped her up a bit on his side. “This is Carola Pawle, the one I told you about.”

“Ah yes,” Chris smiled. “Hello, Carola.”

Carola waved her hand at Chris and then buried her face into Xander’s neck.

“When she’s not acting all were hyenaey, she’s actually quite shy,” Xander explained.

“Most kids are, especially when confronted with new people.”

Chris watched Xander and Carola interact and felt a small pang in his chest, remembering his own child, Adam.

“Okay, kiddo, still a bit sick here myself, so why don’t you head on out and get breakfast from Willow,” Xander told Carola.

Pouting slightly, Carola slid off the bed and headed out of the room, closing the door as she left.

“It’s morning?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, figured you might want to talk or call your teammates in private or something else,” Xander explained sheepishly. “Buffy and her sister, Dawn, are coming in today and I should really be cleaned up and rested to see those two.”

“The one you fell for literally?” Chris joked.

“Hey!” Xander yelled.

Chris just smirked..

“So, mean, Pops, mean,” Xander pouted.

“I have to survive my team somehow.”

“Tell me about it,” Xander commiserated. “The girls in here drive me nuts sometimes. Give me Africa with the rhino’s, drug and gun runners and crazy demons.”

“Huh,” Chris blinked. “Sounds like Denver minus the rhino’s and crazy demons.”

“Well, guess I’ll find something similar in Cleveland,” Xander said.

“Guess you'll be on your way there soon?”

Xander nodder. "But, I do have a couple of weeks of vacation,” Xander said. “If you want, maybe I could come visit you for that amount of time before I head back to work?”

Chris blinked. “Yeah, sure, if that’s what you want. I would really like that.” He smiled at Xander, who returned the smile.

The tender moment was broken by the banging on the door.

“Xander! You get your Xander-shaped butt out here and give me a hug!”

Chris raised an eyebrow as Xander quickly got off of the bed and opened the door to his room.

He could make out a small blond who wrapped her arms around Xander, literally picked him up and twirled him around.

“Buffalicious, you’re early and still sick here! At least until the coven gives the okay to me and Dad,” Xander proclaimed as the blond dropped him to his feet.

“Doofus! Here you go and get all baity and you come back with a Dad!” The blond proclaimed.

“Surprise?”

The blond looked around Xander and gave Chris a cool, hard stare.

“Uh, Buffy, please leave him in one piece,” Xander asked as Buffy pushed past around Xander to stand toe to toe with Chris.

“So, got any secretaries in Spain you’re gonna be boinking and leaving Xander in the dust?” Buffy asked.

“No.”

“Planning on sticking around?”

“Yep.”

“Good,” Buffy nodded and then turned her attentions towards Xander. “He’s a keeper, Xander. I say keep him.”

“Wicked,” Xander grinned at Buffy and then Chris. “Now, all you need to do is pass the Dawnmeister’s inspection.”

“Can’t be too hard,” Chris chuckled.

“Oh, she’ll set you on fire in your bed if don’t turn out to be a good parent,” Xander said nonchalantly.

Chris shrugged. “Worse ways to go.”

Buffy laughed. “Oh, we are defiantly keeping him.” And she left the room.

“Congratulations, Dad,” Xander said as he placed his arm on Chris’s shoulder. “I think you just became an honorary dad to another person besides, Willow. Welcome to the Scooby Family.”

“Now, you just have to survive meeting mine,” Chris laughed.

“I’ve survived meeting worse,” Xander said confidently.

Chris raised an eyebrow and moved to leave the room. Xander quickly followed.

“Hey! What’s with the raised eyebrow?”

Keeping his laughter inside, Chris headed down to the kitchen.

“Dad! Hey! Don’t just raise your eyebrow and give me the silent treatment here! Your team can’t be that bad!”


	4. Chapter 4

A few days later Chris found himself standing in the living room of the Internatioanl Watcher's Council meeting the rest of Xander's Hyena pack

He had seen Carola before. But not with her older brother standing behind her He was trying to be intimidating as he stared at Chris with glowing green eyes.

But Chris was not the type to so easily intimidated.

“Now, now Tyrone, stop growling at my parental figure. He isn’t here to take over,” Xander scolded as he joined the group.

“He feels like an alpha,” Tyrone snarled, but still relaxed enough to allow the green to bled out revealing normal blue eyes.

“Yes, he does, but he has his own pack to worry about,” Xander explained.

“Fine.”

“Everyone, this is my father Chris Larabee.”

Chris studied each pack member as Xander made their introductions and shared bits of history for each pack member.

Lorinda Bryan had really frizzy brown hair, with some slight grey strands that stuck up all over the place, she was the oldest member of the group at the age of fourty-six. She had been about thirty when bitten. She also had sad brown eyes.

The next was Tate Boyer, a Texan with short light brown hair and blue eyes. He reminded Chris of Ezra a little bit. The thirty-two year old man had the same smile that the undercover agent wore when he first joined the ATF. Polite, charming, yet distant

Carola was hiding behind her brother’s leg. Her curly hair had been pulled back into pig tails . Her brother had not relaxed his protective stance as he continued to stare at Chris.

Chris stood still as the four circled him, tentively sniffing him. He then yelped when Tate stuck his nose in his neck and then licked upside his check.

“Tate!” Lorinda barked as she grabbed his ear and hauled him back.

Tate let loose a giggle. “But he tastes so nummy, Lor!”

“We’ll find you someone later on to make a pass at,” Lorinda hissed at the were.

“But I like him,” Tate whined at Lorinda.

“You like anything with a pulse.”

The older were-hyena chuckled. “So very true.”

“Tate, could please not hit on my parental unit?” Xander asked in a quiet voice.

“Uh, yeah, sure Boss.Sorry,” Tate whispered back, body posture now tense at the quiet tone of his alpha’s voice.Chris watched how his son handled the energetic were and sighed before he felt a hand tugging on his pant leg. Looking down, Carola was right beside him.

Getting down to his knees, he was now eye to eye with the younger female were.

“Hi.”

“Hi, Carola,” Chris said, smiling gently at the younger girl.

She leaned in close and sniffed his neck. Pulling back she smiled at him. “You have a nice smell.”

Unsure at how to respond to that statement, Chris merely replied, “Thank you.”

“Still don’t like you,” Tyrone growled at Chris and pulled Carola close to him.

Chris stared at Tyrone until the younger boy backed down.

Walking over, Xander placed his hand on Chris’s shoulder. “So we’ve all done the meet and greet here." He looked at each member of the pack being sure to make eye contact. "Everyone good now?”

There were mumbled of “Yes, Boss” and “Yes, Xander” as they acknowledged his leadership.

“Good! Chris and I have got some stuff to talk about, so go do things,” Xander ordered.

Tate had a lecherous grin on his face as he was hauled out of the living room by Lorinda tugging on his ear.

Tyrone scooped Carola up and headed out as well.

Flopping backwards onto the nearby couch, Xander propped his feet up on the coffee table. “So, whatcha think of them?”

“They’re an interesting bunch,” Chris said and sat down one of the chairs. “You said you had stuff you wanted to talk to me about?”

Xander ducked his head a little and looked at Chris. “Yeah, I’m kinda curious about Sarah and Adam.”

Chris sharply inhaled. “I suppose we should talk about them.” He miraculously still had his wallet after everything they'd been though. Chris tugged it out of his back pocket, opening it up and taking out a slightly faded picture, he handed it Xander.

Carefully taking the photograph, Xander looked at it and felt a smile come to his face. This was his younger brother and step-mom. The little boy, Adam was all smiles and had Chris’s hair colour and eyes.

The woman, Sarah had long curly red hair and brown eyes. A bright smile and a figure to die for. He could see why his Dad fell for her.

He handed the picture back to Chris. “You mentioned them back in the cave, but the picture doesn’t do them justice.” Chuckling, he added, “How the hell did you manage to land a woman looking like you do?”

“Watch it junior. And no power in the world will make me tell that story.”

Xander stifled his amusement and waited for Chris to continue.

“She shot me down, but for the next few months in between missions, I always ran into her and my persistence finally paid off. We had our first date and the rest is history. We had our ups and downs. Then Adam was born.” Chris smiled. “We were happy for awhile and then I headed out of town for a week. I stayed one extra night, because Buck insisted and when I came home, it was to the house in flames.”

The hyena in Xander growled at the loss of pack and his one eye glowed green for a split second.

“Both of them were dead from gunshots to the head, execution style, but their bodies were destroyed in the fire,” Chris whispered. “I later found out it was a woman called Ella Gaines who ordered the kill. We have a past history. I still haven’t caught her.”

Xander wasn’t a stranger to wanting revenge, but that kind of road usually led to Vengeance Demons appearing. “You’ll find her Dad and you’ll put her away in jail...where she belongs.”

Chris nodded. “I’m gonna go find a quiet spot to phone my team, they should be in the office by now.”

Understanding the need for the change in topic, Xander watched Chris leave the living room and look for a quiet spot in the Castle.

“He hasn’t had it easy, has he?” Buffy asked as she entered the room from another doorway.

“No, he hasn’t,” Xander agreed.

“He lost them like I lost Tara,” Willow quietly stated.

“We’ve all lost someone,” Buffy said.

“Yeah, but it’s harder when it’s family,” Xander finished.

The two women sat on either side of Xander on the couch and they leaned their heads against his shoulders.

~~~

This Castle was like staying a maze. Chris wasn’t exactly sure where he was until he literally saw a map on the wall with an arrow and a ‘you are here’. Letting out a small “Thank you”, he guided his finger on the map and found where the library was and decided to head there.

Libraries were quiet, right?

Wandering down the hallways, he finally found large wooden doors that he pushed opened and hoped it was the place he was looking for.

It was.

The library the Castle housed was enormous. Books upon books with computers off to the side. Tables were set up and Chris could see there were two people there, going through a small mountain of heavy tomes.

The door behind him, suddenly closed, echoing loudly in the large room.

The two who had been studying brought their heads up to look at Chris.

“Sorry about that, didn’t realize this place was occupied,” Chris excused himself.

“The library is always occupied,” The long dark-blond haired woman explained.

“By the Holy Grail!” The guy now spoke up. “You’re Xander’s dad!”

“That’s Xander’s dad, Andrew?"

Andrew nodded so fast, he reminded Chris of a Bobble-head.

The young woman moved from behind the table and walked right up to Chris, looking him up and down. Chris felt like a piece of meat.

He merely raised an eyebrow and gave a little glare at the woman.

“Ah, so that’s where Xander gets it from,” The young woman chuckled.

“Gets what?” Chris asked quietly.

“When he gets all intense and growly, he gets a stare going just like yours,” the young woman chuckled and then held out her hand. “I’m Dawn Summers.”

Chris took the offered hand. “Chris Larabee, but your Andrew friend there already blurted it out.”

Andrew looked embarrassed and his cheeks were tinged a bit red.

“Yeah, he does that sometimes,” Dawn smiled. “So, Chris, since it looks like you’ve decided to become a part of Xander’s life, you’ve probably already been questioned by the others.”

Chris merely nodded with an incline of the head to answer Dawn’s question.

“Good, I’ll get the gossip from them,” Dawn resolutely stated and then her expression turned hard. “But if you hurt Xander intentionally in any way shape or form, I’ll toss you into a different reality where it’ll seem like this one is a cakewalk.” Dawn’s eyes glowed green, but not the were-hyena green that Chris had associated with the others. This was a bright green and he knew she would back her threat up.

“I promise.” Were the only words he could offer.

Dawn nodded at him and then returned back to her reading with Andrew.

Feeling that he was no longer welcomed in the Library, Chris exited the massive room and went about trying to find his and Xander’s room.

After asking for directions from a couple of the girls, he found it. Sitting down on the small sofa, Chris dialled the number to the office phone in Denver.

After a few rings, the other end was picked up.

“Tanner.”

“Hey, cowboy,” Chris spoke into the phone.

“Chris! Good to hear from ya. When you comin’ home?”

“Soon. Get checked out by the docs tomorrow and then I’ll find out if I have the okay to come home or stay another couple of days,” Chris replied back.

“Good!”

“How’s everyone doing?” Chris asked. He wanted to be there in person, to keep an eye on his team. They always got into such trouble when he wasn’t there.

“They’re doin’ alright,” Vin drawled thickly.

Damn, that meant something was amiss. “What happened?” He growled out.

“Casey broke up with JD and the kid’s moping fierce,” Vin explained.

“Shit,” Chris muttered. “He didn’t need that.”

“Happened him yesterday and the kid's thrown himself into his work. Been kinda snappish at everyone,” Vin said. “We’re keepin’ an eye on him.”

“I should be there.”

“Well, not yer fault ya got kidnapped and doped up and doused with whatever it was that made ya sick,” Vin chuckled. “Will make one helluva story when you finally get home.”

“Yeah, not too sure what I can tell everyone though. Some of it's still a blur,” Chris lied.

“Hmmm.”

“I won't be coming home alone though; my kid's coming with me.”

“Xander?”

“Yeah, Xander,” Chris smiled. “He’s got about two weeks vacation time and plans to spend it with me in Denver before he goes to Cleveland for work.”

“He jest got through a kidnappin’ and he’s only resting for two weeks before headin’ back to work?” Vin asked incredulous. “Damn, cowboy, he sure is yer kid.”

Chris laughed. “Yeah, he is.”

“Well, when you two get here, we’ll have a barbeque and – introduce ourselves,” Vin chuckled.

“Just don’t scare him off,” Chris ordered.

“Yeah, yeah,” Vin replied back and then paused. Chris could make out some sort of noise on the other end of the phone. “Listen, Chris, I gotta go here. Phone us when you’re comin’ in.”

“Will do, Tanner and stay safe.”

“Always, cowboy,” Vin reassured him before hanging up the phone.

Sighing, Chris clicked off his own cell and laid down on the couch. It had been a long couple of days.

Soon enough, he was asleep.

~~~

Chris was startled awake by a door closing loudly as Xander entered.

“Oh! Sorry Dad, I didn’t see you there.”

“S’alright, I should be getting up anyways. Is it time for dinner?” Chris asked as he yawned and stretched at the same time.

“Yeah, in an hour or so,” Xander said. “I think there’s gonna be –“

BOOM!!!!!

The entire Castle rocked, sending Chris and Xander tumbling. Bright lights flashed in Xander’s room as a cloud of smoke wafted from the floor.

“Summoning circle!” Xander cried out as he grabbed a couple of axes from underneath the bed and tossed one to Chris.

Chris caught it a bit clumsily, but to be fair he wasn’t used to fighting with axes. _And who fought with axes anymore?_

“Behold D'Hoffryn! Lord of Arashmaharr!!!” A loud voice yelled out.

“Damnit, D’Hoffryn?” Xander cried out as he waved the smoke away from his face.

It was a tall, blue skinned demon with four horns on top of its head. It was wearing a long black cloak and it looked like it was smirking.

“Xander, Xander, Xander,” D’Hoffryn cooed at the one-eyed man. “You keep ignoring my invitations.”

“Yeah, because I don’t want anything to do with you!” Xander snarled out and hefted his axe up.

“Not even for Anyanka?”

“Anya?” Xander faltered.

And Chris knew that tone. It was a tone reserved for lost ones. Ones who weren’t coming back. He knew Willow mentioned something about an Anya when giving him the history of the Scoobies, but he had a feeling it was a bit more indepth and it included Xander and this D’Hoffryn character.

“Yes you stupid human, Anya,” D’Hoffryn mocked and then Chris felt the demon’s eyes on him. “How - interesting. Hmmm, you’ll both come with me then.”

Chris saw the demon snap his fingers and he felt a hooking sensation and he knew no more as he tumbled into darkness.


End file.
